Determination
104
Minnesota
News Council
In the Matter of the Complaint of
Paul Thiede against
the Brainerd Daily Dispatch
Attending the hearing were Crow Wing County Commissioner
Paul Thiede (the complainant) and Roy Miller, editor, and Terry McCollough,
publisher, of the Brainerd Daily Dispatch.
Complaint:
Crow Wing County Commissioner Paul Thiede, a former newspaper editor
himself, complains that the editor of the Brainerd Daily Dispatch
acted unethically when he sent a private letter on newspaper stationery
to a select group of people (50 members of a Blandin Foundation leadership
program) to solicit letters to the editor that were favorable to the
editor's position in the midst of a bitter debate over the county
board's decision to abolish the county welfare board.
Response of the news organization:
Editor Roy Miller, though he had originally denied soliciting letters,
acknowledged at the hearing that his letter was a solicitation and
defended his action, saying he was soliciting any letters on the subject,
not simply letters favorable to his opinion. Editor Miller, a former
participant in the Blandin Leadership Program, which trains community
leaders to solve community problems, said he wrote a private letter
to fellow graduates because the Blandin program emphasized off-the-record
discussions during its training sessions.
NOTE: The Dispatch provided the Council with
background of a longstanding political battle between several county
commissioners and the Dispatch, and accused Thiede of carrying on
a vendetta against the paper. The Council chose to limit the complaint
to the question of the ethical conduct of the editor in writing the
private letter. It did not hear information pertaining to political
issues.
Discussion:
Council members examined what aspects of this solicitation might be
considered unethical and how this solicitation differed from other
kinds of editorial solicitations a newspaper might use.
Editor Miller told the Council that this was the first
time in his 30-year career that he had written such a letter, but
that he was so upset with the county board's actions and with his
Blandin colleagues' silence that he appealed to them to become more
involved. Miller's letters display his expectations of and loyalty
to this group. In his response to Thiede's complaint he wrote that
he was "determined on a personal level to let my fellow Blandin
alums know I thought they should show other community people that
they care. I had several people over the years make fun of the Blandinites...
because they never seemed to do anything. I shared that concern."
He also said he wanted to determine if the Blandinites
had been subjected to harassment or feared retaliation if they took
a more active stance in the debate.
Council members asked about the private nature of
the letter: why Miller didn't show it to the publisher or make a public
call to action in the paper. Miller said he didn't show it to the
publisher because the publisher was not a member of the Blandin group
and might not like the strong language he used. He said he didn't
issue a public call to action to the group because he didn't want
to "take them to task in the paper."
Thiede accused Miller of using the weight of his position
as editor to coerce a response and said that this endangered the nature
of an open forum because readers would not know whether a published
letter was solicited or unsolicited. Public member Ann Barkelew noted
that, when applicable, letter writers are identified as having some
special interest in the issue (which often has the effect of negating
what the letter writer has said). She said this is particularly so
in a small community where readers assign a letter more or less credibility
because they know the writer. "A lot of people in a small community
look at who a letter is from, and if there is no indication that the
letter was submitted in response to a request, it's not fair to the
stakeholders of that community." Council members asked what harm
might be done if a solicited letter were published from a writer who
believed what he/she was writing. Thiede said the private nature of
the solicitation made it impossible for any claim regarding the solicitation
or nonsolicitation of a letter to be proven.
Council members were unable to ascertain what actual
harm might be done, but there was concern about using a letters column
to advance the personal sentiments of the editor. They asked Thiede
how he would view different solicitation situations:
- Would it be appropriate to telephone a variety
of people to ask for their opinions on a contentious issue? Thiede
felt they should be labeled as solicited.
- What if a private citizen solicited people to send
letters? Thiede said that's not a reasonable comparison, because
individuals are not in the business of selling opinion.
Thiede said he would have had no problem with Miller
writing a personal letter on plain white paper and signing it, Roy
Miller, but he had a problem with a signature, Roy Miller, editor.
Miller responded that even if he used plain white paper and left out
his title, everyone would still know he is the editor of the small
town paper and any abuse of office that might be present would still
be present.
Council member and Star Tribune editorial writer Kate
Stanley said the Star Tribune solicits people to write commentaries
expressing points of view that haven't been seen in the paper and
they are not labeled as solicited. Thiede said he would prefer that
such pieces were identified as solicited, but that he didn't have
a problem with the Tribune's procedure.
WCCO-TV reporter and media member Trish Van Pilsum
said the difference between the Star Tribune's solicitation and Miller's
is that Miller was trying to generate a specific opinion and that
he was not open about it. While Miller maintained that he was only
soliciting letters, not a specific point of view, media member Ron
Handberg pointed out that in Miller's solicitation letter he characterized
the county commissioner's actions as "shocking" and appealed
for support. Handberg also noted that Miller said the Blandinite group
was very close and he (Miller) believed he knew them and their feelings
on the issue.
Media member John Kostouros pointed out that this
highlighted the question of what the role of the journalist ought
to be in the community. "Many believe it should be only through
the pages of the newspaper - let others act, while the paper only
observes. Some say that's too narrow. Miller thought so, so he went
an extra step, but he did it after writing an editorial ripping the
county board. Trying to get people to write letters to the editor
was awkward, but there was nothing wrong with it."
Public member Carol Pine found Miller's actions to
be an example of poor judgment, but not an ethical breach. Van Pilsum
supported the right of the paper to solicit opinions but questioned
Miller's lack of openness. "I ask myself, 'Am I willing to disclose
what I have done and how I am doing it?' You weren't, not even to
your publisher."
Determination:
The Council found that it was poor journalistic practice for the editor
of the Brainerd Daily Dispatch, in his official position, to use a
restricted mailing list to privately solicit letters to the editor
to support his own position. However, the Council did not find that
the editor acted unethically.
Concurring: Denny, Barkelew, Handberg, Hoben,
Parker, Pine, Pumarlo, Reeder, Seltzer, Thompson, Van Pilsum, Vargas,
Wicks
Dissenting: Kostouros
Abstaining: Anderson, Cytron, LeGrand, Smith, Stanley
April 20, 1995
Read
Determination 105
Back
to Main Determination Index
Want
to comment? Send a message
to the News Council.
